


We Climb Together or We Don't Climb at All

by booksandboxsets



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-01
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2018-02-19 13:27:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2389958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booksandboxsets/pseuds/booksandboxsets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We're going rock climbing," Ian announced, pushing Mandy's legs off of his own and jumping up from the couch.</p><p>"Rock climbing?" </p><p>"Rock climbing."</p><p>"...okay then."</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Climb Together or We Don't Climb at All

**Author's Note:**

> my need for ian and mandy's friendship has reached new heights. literally. i'm sorry i couldn't not.   
> i just love their friendship so much and i miss it a lot, so sorry for not doing it justice.

"We're going rock climbing," Ian announced, pushing Mandy's legs off of his own and jumping up from the couch.

"Rock climbing?" 

"Rock climbing."

"...okay then."

 

//////

 

"I used to do some training here," a distant look came across Ian's face as he looked over at the building which housed the climbing wall, a silence washing over him. It was a complete contrast to his ecstatic ramblings the whole journey here - it wasn't anything alarming though, Ian often had these moments, moments where he'd cut off mid-sentence, drawing into himself whenever he mentioned something army-related. Mandy grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently, she knew how heavy the weight of crushed dreams was.

The slight pressure broke Ian out of his regret-filled trance, and slowly but surely, a smile returned to his face. Today he could make new memories here to drown out the old - memories of him and his best friend. He cleared out his throat before continuing, "so... yeah, I know one of the guys who runs it so we don't have to pay, it's pretty cool, you'll love it." He squeezed her hand back.

Excitement was returning to him now, and as he turned his smile towards Mandy, his excitement carried over and ran through her. 

Still hand in hand, they began to run towards the entrance, both of them laughing as they stepped through the threshold.

 

//////

 

True to his word, Ian had connections (as always), and soon enough the duo were in their harnesses and ready to go, a pair of bored looking instructors holding the other end of their ropes.

They were looking at each other again, still both smiling - all up until Ian pushed Mandy down onto the mat and ran off towards the wall, calling back behind his shoulder with a massive grin plastered onto his face, "race you to the top!"

"Ian you shithead that's cheating!" Mandy shouted back as she pushed herself up and ran after her idiot best friend. Ian was already up and off of the ground, speedily making his way up the first bit of the wall - but he wasn't completely out of reach. Mandy chuckled to herself; if Ian wanted to play dirty, so could she. She reached her arm up and grabbed onto Ian's ankle, pulling down with as much force as possible, hearing one of the instructors curse behind her.

Ian mirrored the instructors language as he let go of the wall and fell the slight drop onto the mats below, and although it was tempting to turn back and see the ginger giant she had taken down, Mandy was wasting no time. She knew that her slight gain on Ian wouldn't last long and she planned to make the most of it, opting to pay attention to the wall in front of her rather than gloat.

She hadn't been rock climbing before but she seemed to be a natural, quickly making her way up the wall just as Ian had done. Adding to her luck, Ian still hadn't got up from the floor, too busy laughing at the female Milkovich's tactics. It was one of those moments where she reminded him so much of her brother, and whenever said moments arose he could do nothing but sit back and bask in his love for the Milkovich siblings. 

He shook off his amusement, replacing it with determination and competitiveness as he made his way up for the second time, fully intending to catch up to Mandy.

 

//////

 

Ian had three advantages: (1) he had climbed these walls before so he knew the best routes to take, (2) his height, and (3) his strength. These facts meant that Mandy's prediction rang true - her gain on Ian did not last long.

She hadn't been looking down, so she didn't know how near he was to her, but she had expected the sneak attack at some point. Nevertheless, she jumped when Ian nudged her foot, swaying her balance slightly and causing her to lose her concentration as she clung tightly to the wall.

"IAN!" She finally looked down to find a smirking ginger almost directly below her, "you're such a dick."

He simply laughed as he looked around for his next hand placement. Mandy followed his eye line, watching as he let go of one hold and moved his hand in the direction of another. She timed it perfectly, putting her foot down onto the hold Ian had chosen just after he had gripped it, treading down onto Ian's fingers and eliciting a small yelp out of him. It was now her turn to laugh again as she carried on making her way up to the top of the wall. This time however she decided to look back down, sticking her tongue out at a disbelieving Ian, who was looking up at her shaking his head as well as his hand. 

"Put that tongue away, you haven't beaten me yet Milkovich!"

 

////// 

 

In all honesty, Mandy had no hope, and soon enough it was Ian who was the one looking down and sticking his tongue out after having overtaken Mandy. He had moved off to the right of her, a groan escaping Mandy as she saw a flash of orange in her peripheral.

Her defeat was confirmed when she looked sideways to find a beaming Ian looking back at her, well out of her reach (or more precisely, well out of reach of her leg, which was being kicked out towards him with no chance of making contact). 

"You suck, Gallagher." 

"Yeah, your brother's dick."

Mandy paused mid-climb, dumbfounded and not even able to come up with a retort, Ian's borderline maniacal laughter at his own joke getting more distant as he shot up ahead.

 

//////

 

Even when Ian moved sideways, back towards Mandy, he still wasn't within touching distance, always remaining just slightly ahead of her. She hadn't fallen too far behind though, had even closed the gap between them quite a bit, so Mandy was pleased with herself.

Mandy - who hadn't really realised how high this wall was.

Her arms were starting to ache.

Never one to admit defeat however, she proceeded, ignoring the fact that her legs had also started to shake slightly.

 

//////

 

Ian looked back down, checking to see how long he had before he needed to worry about his component pushing him off of the wall. It turned out that that was the least of his worries, clearly noticing the familiar signs of fatigue in Mandy. 

He stopped, remaining still until she caught up to him.

"What? Needed... needed more of a challenge? Didn't want to win so easily so had to wait for me?" Mandy joked between deep breaths. 

"No," Ian replied seriously, grabbing Mandy's full attention. 

"What?"

"It's a dumb competition, can we stop now?"

"Ian Gallagher's giving up?" Mandy looked him over, "stop speaking shit, you're hardly even breaking a sweat."

"No, but you are," there was no mocking in Ian's tone, it wasn't an insult, just pure concern, not wanting his best friend to overexert herself.

"We can't all be G.I. Joe asshole." 

Ian laughed despite his worry, proceeding to make a show out of his muscles. 

"As I said, asshole," Mandy chuckled, attempting to elbow him. She didn't manage to, her shaking leg slipping when she let go of her hold - she would have fell back from the wall had Ian not grabbed onto her, his laughter ceasing.

"Seriously Mands, we can just let go if you want to, we're basically at the top any ways."

"Nope, I'm beating this fucking wall," Mandy said as she hit her hand against it, Ian's support meaning that she didn't slip when she released her hold this time, "I never expected to beat you, but I'm ringing that stupid bell at the top." 

"Alright," this was something Ian loved about Mandy, the fact that she never backed down from anything, even if it meant she had to put herself through hell. She refused to let anything defeat her, be it her general shit show of a life or a climbing wall - it was admirable, and Ian would never shut down her strength. Especially when he had the same drive to achieve ridiculous tasks like this - he pushed himself to run further and further each day, so he wasn't going to stop Mandy from 'beating' a climbing wall - he got it. There was something satisfying about forcing yourself to keep on going even when your body was telling you to stop; it felt like control. Breaking through these excersize barriers reminded him that he could break through all the other barriers in his life, that he wasn't confined by them - he could push back. He didn't know if this need to get to the top of the wall was anything similar for Mandy, but if it was, he wasn't about to tell her no - Mandy had been denied more than her fair share of things.

That didn't mean that he should let her go it alone, "at least let me help you?"

"Alright."

 

//////

 

Mandy wouldn't necessarily call the rest of her ascent a 'climb' - it was far too assisted to be labelled that; Ian was constantly taking hold of her hand, pulling her up after him until she could grab the next hold, or wrapping his arm around her until she found her footing. 

But she didn't mind. Didn't feel weaker for it.

This was how they worked - her and Ian.

When one of them couldn't make it, the other would lend them the strength to, would support them when they couldn't support themselves. So she let Ian help her get to the top of the wall, let him carry her weight and do most of the work, because she knew she couldn't do the climb without him. Just as he knew that he wouldn't have made the climb out of bed without her. 

They needed each other, in tasks big or small. 

And somehow, this togetherness was much more fun that their initial competition. They had always worked best as a team.

 

//////

 

When they got to the top, they rang the bell together, even though Ian had insisted Mandy should do it. But that hadn't felt right, they had reached the top together, so they would ring the bell together too.

Mandy suspected that this felt better than ringing it alone.

As it chimed, Mandy's eyes watered slightly and she wasn't entirely sure why. Maybe it was because she thought she had lost this - this perfect friendship she had, or maybe it was because she was just so fucking relieved to be done with this wall. Either way, she knew that for once, they were happy tears.

 

//////

 

Falling down would be much quicker and far easier than getting up - Mandy knew this already. Still, even though she didn't need him for this bit, Ian was right next to her the whole time. He always was whenever she fell.

Their hands remained held as they pushed off from the wall and started the descent. Mandy heard someone else ringing a bell, someone else making it to the top. She found that she was jealous, already wanting her and Ian to ring the bell for a second time.  

And they would, because Mandy and Ian would be back to make the climb again, starting from rock bottom over and over until they made it up once more. Together. 


End file.
